This past week I had the chance to steal away from work and spend time with my family on a road trip to Las Vegas, Nevada. What set out to be a fun filled vacation turned out to have a lot more adventure than we had ever could have anticipated. This picture is what started it all...

Once we pulled off to the side of the road for a break and to take pictures of the vast desert, my wife, Annie, spotted something worth shooting in the distance. An old, abandoned school bus.

Taking pictures of this pretty neat bus in the middle of nowhere went from fun to highly stressful in a matter of seconds... shortly after shooting at this location I (foolishly) directed Annie who was driving at the time to carve a new path through the desert on our way out... It was then where our van sunk tires deep into the sand. I have no pictures of this awesome happening (guess why... I panicked). After freaking out we decided to walk towards the freeway to see if anyone could help us... luckily for us, there were 4 men drinking right up this hill (behind the bus pictured above). We asked for help, and they helped push our car out of the ditch.

One of the best sights to see this whole vacation... the road and not a desolate land devouring the feet of our only mode of transportation.

Once we got into the city... I finally let out a breath of relief and focused on resting and spending time with my wife and kids... particularly this little booger.

I'll post up more pictures of our vacation later... but fast forward to the very end. On the way home we noticed a strange sound coming from the car but couldn't pin point where it was coming from until...

Yep, seems like the desert really wanted to swallow our family whole this year... lucky for us - we stuck it to him. All and all... this weekend taught me a huge lesson that often times I forget:

A special thanks to my wonderful lady... Ms. Annie Ric who thought to document our troubles after our 1st episode this year! Hope you all enjoy the pictures!